In a wireless network, such as an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 network, wireless stations associate with an access point to communicate on the network. A wireless device may send and/or receive unicast packets (packets for the station only) or multicast packets (packets for a group of wireless devices that include the wireless device). Selecting the appropriate data rate for multicast packets can be problematic. For example, the data rate for unicast packets can be a function of the link between the access point and wireless device. A wireless device that is in close range of the access point may send and/or receive unicast packets at 54 Mbps (Megabyte per second) while another wireless device farther away from the access point may send and/or receive unicast packets at 11 Mbps. Thus, a data rate must be selected for sending multicast packets to be sent. The 802.11 standard solution for this dilemma is to select a default multicast rate, for example 1 Mbps, which may not be the most efficient rate. Another method for sending multicast packets comprises replicating each multicast packet and sending a unicast packet to each host at an optimal rate for that host.